Aisha , Anas bin Malik and Ibn Abbas (Allah be pleased with them all)- these three companions of the Prophet (pbuh) were in their early teens when they started learning Religion from him. Before the three completed their teens, they were the finest scholars of Fiqh and narrated the most number of Hadith from the Prophet (pbuh) in their days. Aisha was always approached due to her excellence in Islamic jurisprudence. She had a wonderful command over extracting a ruling from a Quranic verse or a Hadith. Anas bin Malik continued teaching deen and left behind many students when he died at a very ripe old age. Ibn Abbas had almost a basic school to a University in his house with crowds of students flocking to learn Tajweed, Fiqh, Tafseer, etc.

When Ibn Umar (Allah be pleased with him) was in his teens, he wanted to participate in Badr and he did so. Osama bin Zaid was also very young when he was appointed as the commander of the Muslim army by the Prophet (pbuh) himself. Mohammed bin Qasim was only 16 when he won Sindh as an army General.

Even today, young generations are hoisting success stories in various avenues, some useful for the society while others harmful.Sindhuja Rajamaran became the youngest CEO of a Chennai-based animation company called Seppan, at the age of 14 in India. Shravan (10) and Sanjay Kumaran (12), two brothers from Chennai have created mobile phone applications that have witnessed over 10,000 downloads across the world already. Many sport stars are in their mid-teen when they reach the peak of their fame, success and wealth. When Tendulkar retired, he left behind two decades of glorious success while he was teased as the baby of the team when he was selected for the Indian Cricket Team.

On the other hand, we have a string of singers, actors and musicians who too reached the top of fame and ended up as either druggists or finished their lives through suicide. Elvis Presley, known as the King of Rock and Roll, started at a very young age. He was just 19 when he started his music career but succumbed to drugs. Kurt Cobain launched his own music company at a very young age before he died at 27 due to excessive intake of heroin.

It is very sad that many young children prefer a sensational career that brings them fame and surplus wealth. It all depends upon what values the children grow up with. In early childhood, if they are sweetened with cultural poison of Cinderellas and Supermans, then they look up at Rockstars and Sportspersons who are known more for their wild lifestyles than their contribution to the society. If they are in touch with the achievements of young Aisha, Anas and Ibn Abbas (r.a.a), they will incline towards an academic path studded with assurance of Akhera. The choice is yours.